UK invests more into coronavirus vaccine as cases rise to 163

The UK government on Friday announced a new 46-million pound funding for urgent work to find a coronavirus vaccine and develop a rapid test for the disease as the number of cases in the country rose to 163.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Mologic lab in Bedfordshire, which is using UK aid funding to develop rapid diagnostic test devices for the novel coronavirus to allow medical professionals, and potentially even individuals at home, to identify the disease quickly without relying on specialist facilities.

"We are ensuring the country is prepared for the current outbreak, guided by the science at every stage. But we also need to invest now in researching the vaccines that could help prevent future outbreaks," Johnson said.

"I'm very proud that UK experts backed by government funding are on the front line of global efforts to do just that," he said.

Eight possible coronavirus vaccines are currently under development and efforts are being made to get any viable vaccines from sequencing of the virus to clinical testing in under a year, which is a record time frame. Governments around the world could then work with pharmaceutical companies to get vaccines into production and use.

The British government said the additional UK funding will bring the country's investment into COVID-19 vaccine research to 65 million pounds and the total support to fight the virus internationally to 91 million pounds.

"UK experts are leading the scientific and medical response to the global coronavirus outbreak and the UK was one of the first countries to establish a laboratory test for the virus. However, no country has yet found a method of diagnosing coronavirus without sending samples to a lab for testing a process that can take several days," the Department for International Development (DfiD) said.

Efforts to develop a diagnostic test form part of the UK government's work to limit the spread of the virus, investing in and informed by scientific research.

"We are investing UK aid and using the best of British expertise and science to find new ways to vaccinate against, treat and diagnose the virus, and to support global efforts to prevent further outbreaks around the world," said UK International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

International efforts are being coordinated by a new UK Government Coronavirus International Taskforce, bringing together expertise from DfID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

"Coronavirus is the biggest threat in countries whose healthcare systems are unable to cope with large outbreaks. Ensuring those countries have mechanisms in place will prevent a surge of cases which would also present risks to us at home," DfID said.

A woman in her 70s with underlying health issues became the UK's first fatality from COVID-19 this week and an estimated 20,338 people have been tested for coronavirus.

The government has said the UK is still in the first phase of its four-part plan to tackle the virus outbreak, which is made up of: contain, delay, research and mitigate.

More than 3,400 have died and over 99,400 people have been infected globally from the virus, which has reached more than 80 countries and territories.

The World Health Organisation last week raised the global virus risk to maximum level after the outbreak spread to sub-Saharan Africa and stock markets around the world plummeted.